Question New AM5 system- boot woes.

[Soap_hand]

Second time building a PC in 15 years so I am very much a beginner and essentially brand new to this. Here is what I just built.

Asus X670E Hero motherboard
7800x3d with corsair H115i AIO cooler.
G.Skill Trident 2x16 gb DDR5 6000 CL30-38-38-96.
RTX 3090
Samsung 990 pro 2 tb m.2 drive.
Lian Air mini case.
EVGA SuperNova G3 850W PSU

I am running the latest 1202 BIOS version from asus that just released yesterday 4/25.

Here is my problem. I can get past the BIOS into Windows but only from a cold boot. When I hit the restart button within Windows, I get stuck on the screen where it says "please press DEL or F2 to enter EUFI BIOS." I cannot get it to load Windows again without doing a hard restart by holding the power button and turning the system back on. Furthermore, the screen must be frozen when it is on that page because pressing DEL or F2 does nothing. So I cannot get back into Windows nor can I even enter the BIOS.

Has this happened to anyone else? When I am in Windows, everything seems to be working as expected. I only run into problems when I restart.

I am not sure if my RAM is on the QVL list. Maybe my ram is not supported? But if it is not, I also am not running EXPO so my Ram speed is ~4000, far and under the specified 6000.

Also, please don't tell me to just live with this issue. Not being able to restart is not a big deal but it is a sign that something is not right within my system and there could be further potential issues down the road. I've already booted Tails from USB and after I shut my system down and removed the USB, I was getting a black screen/no-posting. I had to reset CMOS and go into safe mode and reinstall Windows.

Something is not right.

I've already tried running an old SATA SSD but had the same issues. I don't think it is the GPU because the 3090 was running fine in my old X58 Xeon X5675 build.

I haven't updated any drivers within Windows. I've only installed the Wifi driver for my motherboard. I could try updating everything if you think that might help. I feel like a chipset or windows driver isn't going to fix a boot issue though.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

When you updated the bios, did you then clear CMOS? This is a critical part of the bios update process.

Try that and see how you get on.

You can also test the ram outside of windows with memtest86+. Let it run for 4 passes, and you should have 0 errors. If you have any errors, the ram could be faulty.

 

[Soap_hand]

Hey there,

When you updated the bios, did you then clear CMOS? This is a critical part of the bios update process.

Try that and see how you get on.

You can also test the ram outside of windows with memtest86+. Let it run for 4 passes, and you should have 0 errors. If you have any errors, the ram could be faulty.

I did not know you are supposed to clear CMOS after updating BIOS so I did not. I did however hit the CMOS button more than a few times after getting blackscreen/no-boot since updating the BIOS, but it was not done immediately after. Does it make a difference?

 

[geofelt]

When you update a bios, all of the settings should have been reset to default.
If you had some settings that you need, enter them again.

Ryzen is very sensitive to ram and the motherboard may be trying to find a setting it likes.

To verify that your ram is ok
Run memtest86 or memtest86+
They boot from a usb stick and do not use windows.
You can download them here:

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Memtest86+ | The Open-Source Memory Testing Tool

Memtest86+ is an advanced, free, open-source, stand-alone memory tester for 32- and 64-bit computers (UEFI & BIOS supported)

www.memtest.org

If you can run a full pass with NO errors, your ram should be ok.

Running several more passes will sometimes uncover an issue, but it takes more time.
Probably not worth it unless you really suspect a ram issue.

 

[Soap_hand]

When you update a bios, all of the settings should have been reset to default.
If you had some settings that you need, enter them again.

Ryzen is very sensitive to ram and the motherboard may be trying to find a setting it likes.

To verify that your ram is ok
Run memtest86 or memtest86+
They boot from a usb stick and do not use windows.
You can download them here:

MemTest86 - Official Site of the x86 Memory Testing Tool

MemTest86 is the original self booting memory testing software for x86 and ARM computers. Supporting both BIOS and UEFI, with options to boot from USB.

www.memtest86.com

Memtest86+ | The Open-Source Memory Testing Tool

Memtest86+ is an advanced, free, open-source, stand-alone memory tester for 32- and 64-bit computers (UEFI & BIOS supported)

www.memtest.org

If you can run a full pass with NO errors, your ram should be ok.

Running several more passes will sometimes uncover an issue, but it takes more time.
Probably not worth it unless you really suspect a ram issue.

Ran memtest for 1 hour with no errors.

Do you think it could be a faulty motherboard?